Finding Out True Love is Blind
by iCraft
Summary: Adrienne thought she was the best dancer in her town, until Marcus showed up and shattered her small reality. They hate each other...but when he realizes the truth about her, he just might wind up saving her life, and realizing his own feelings.
1. Chapter 1

Adrienne walked slowly beside her friend Faith on the upper level of the mall. They were headed to the arcade. It was Saturday and they had nothing better to do. Adrienne was highly anticipating getting on the Dance Dance Revolution machine. She had been in love with it since the first time she played on one three years ago. She remembered the first time she played like it was yesterday.

_It was her thirteenth birthday and the party was being held at a local pizzeria/arcade. Adrienne thought she was too old to have her birthday parties held at such a place, but her mother had insisted and so as not to hurt her feelings Adrienne went along with it. She had to admit, it wasn't all bad. Fifteen other girls had been invited and they had scattered about the arcade. Adrienne didn't mind, she was fine hanging out with her best friend since fourth grade, Faith. Her mother hadn't seemed to notice that Adrienne never hung out with all the other girls. It wasn't that she didn't like them, and the other girls liked her to a certain degree, she had just grown extremely accustomed to only Faith's presence, and she didn't really want to change that._

_They had been sitting in a booth chatting and giggling over the cute guy behind the counter where you traded in your tickets for candy and prizes when Faith asked if she wanted to go play some games. Adrienne readily agreed and they went off, in search of a little entertainment._

"_Hey look at that," commented Faith, pointing to where a small crowd had gathered around what looked like two people dancing . "Let's go check it out."_

_Thoroughly intrigued, the two girls went over to see what was so enthralling. _

_There were two teenage girls who looked slightly older than Adrienne and Faith playing some kind of stepping game. There was music playing and a lighted marquee just above the screen that said DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION. Adrienne looked at the screen and noticed that there were arrows moving up the screen in time with the music. After a moments observation, she figured out the basics of how the two girls were playing. Apparently, when the arrows scrolling up the screen reached the stationary arrows at the top, they had to step on the arrows on the metal pad to earn points. She wanted to play! She turned to Faith and said, "That looks like fun. You want to play when they get done?"_

_Faith smiled at her friend. _

"_Yeah!" she said. "But you know, I think I saw another game on the other side, across from the pizza stand. We can go see if it's empty."_

"_Okay!"_

Adrienne remembered how she felt when her feet were moving across the pad, seemingly on their own. She knew it was meant to be. Adrienne liked that feeling and ever since she had been playing every time they went to the mall. She had even bought the home edition for Playstation 2. (She was currently saving money so she could buy the metal dance pads and get rid of her plastic ones.)

"Hey!"

Faith's outburst jerked Adrienne out of her thoughts.

"Look!" She said, pointing to the arcade entrance. Adrienne could see the DDR machine from where she was standing. She could also see that someone was on it, and they were doing really good. They were moving really fast and there was a crowd gathered around, watching. Some people were chanting what was apparently his name.

"MARCUS! MARCUS! MARCUS!" She heard them yelling.

"Let's go check it out, Adrienne, you may have some competition!" Faith said jokingly.

Adrienne laughed and ran to catch up to her friend who was already practically at the arcade entrance.

"Wow he's kind of hot." Faith whispered and nudged Adrienne in the elbow. (There really was no need for her to whisper, they were looking on from the small cafe in an adjoining room. They had a perfect view of the guy apparently named Marcus from a table in the corner.) Adrienne laughed and looked at her friend. She couldn't deny that, he was tall, at least two inches more than her, with shaggy dark brown, almost black hair, dressed in a goth/punk style in a black tee-shirt with a white long-sleeved T underneath and black pants with two straps that hung down to the back of his knees and crossed in the back.

"He's almost better than you at this!" Faith noted.

"He probably is." She agreed. "He looks like he's been playing a lot longer than me anyway." She looked at the screen and listened to the music. He was playing The Legend of Maxx, the fastest and hardest song she'd ever come in contact with, and from the looks of it, he wasn't having any trouble, even though he was on heavy.

"You should play him" said Faith. Adrienne looked at her like she was crazy. "What! I bet you could beat him!"

Adrienne continued to give her a psycho look. "No way in Hell!" she practically shrieked. "There's no way I could beat him!"

Faith waved her off. "Sure you could. I know you can, and as soon as he gets done with this round, I'm going to tell him to play against you!" She smiled triumphantly at Adrienne who was looking as if someone had just painted her face white.

"No!" she exclaimed, gaining weird looks from some of the other people in the cafe.

"Why not?" Faith asked slyly. "Are you shy?"

"Well, first of all, he looks like he would murder me slowly and painfully with small sharp knives if I looked at him the wrong way-"

"Oh, come on! Just 'cause he does all his shopping at Hot Topic? It's not like you don't ever go in there, if I remember correctly, that shirt you're wearing now came from there. You're just making excuses, we both know that you like a little darkness in mystery in a man. Just one game, you need some real competition besides me anyway. Someone who might actually beat you. The only way you'll ever really appreciate the game is to be beaten at it a couple of times anyway."

"Getting a little thoughtful are we?"

"You bet your ass I am! Look, he's done, I'm going over there to talk to him for you."

Adrienne tried to yell at her to stop, but she was already running across the room to catch up with Mr. DDR-king. Cough-sarcasm-cough. She was seriously contemplating running away right now. Or committing suicide. They were on the second level of the mall, so if she jumped from the window and landed the right way, maybe she could shatter her own skull. She pictured what Faith would say then.

Maybe something like: "If only I hadn't tried to force her to publicly humiliate herself by playing DDR with someone who could kick her ass!"

Nah, she wouldn't say that.

Sulkily Adrienne got up and walked to the counter to order a drink.

"Can I help you?" asked the very bored looking guy behind the counter.

"Medium Coke,"

Taking her five-dollar-bill, he handed her a styrofoam cup and her $4.01 change. She stuffed the money in her pocket and took the cup to fill it up at the fountain against the wall.

She had just gotten the lid on the cup and was about to take a drink when someone tapped her shoulder. Knowing who it was and dreading facing them, she asked without turning around, "What?"

"Adrienne, I want you to meet someone," came Faith's overly-cheerful voice. Sighing, Adrienne turned around to face her certain doom-

-and came face-to-face with the sexiest face she'd ever seen. She was temporarily winded.

"Adrienne this is Marcus. Marcus, this is Adrienne, she plays Dance Dance Revolution almost as well as you do!"

Adrienne struggled to find her voice, but all she could manage to get out was a meek, "Hi."

She was almost sure she was going to crack under his penetrating stare. His dark brown eyes bore into her as if trying to search inside of her for something. S he had to break this awful silence before she lost all nerve completely.

"So you play DDR?" Stupid, she thought. Of course he plays DDR! That's why he's here talking to you . . . er . . . not talking, whatever.

"Religiously," he said with no feeling whatsoever. He was seriously starting to scare her.

Adrienne smiled but couldn't think of anything more to say. Luckily Faith piped up saying, "C'mon you two should go play each other! It would be awesome!"

"You want to?" he asked, flashing her a smile that plainly said, "CHALLENGE MY SUPERIOR SKILLS, O UNWORTHY ONE!" (Well, okay, she seriously doubted that he would say that, but it was amusing nonetheless.

Suddenly it was like someone had taken a vacuum and sucked every bit of confidence out of her body. Desperately she tried to think of an excuse to get out of this predicament, but the only thing she could think of was, "Uh . . . well . . . I mean . . . I'd love to, but . . ."

"But nothing!" exclaimed Faith, with a fiery look in her eyes. "Come on!"

At this point, Adrienne knew that resistance was futile. Once Faith got that look on her face, you knew that anything she wanted, she got, even if it killed her. Heaving a sigh of relief, Adrienne followed Faith and "Marcus" out of the cafe, toward what she was certain was her certain doom.

"Guys before I can do anything, I need to get some quarters, I'm all out."

"Come to the arcade without quarters," mused Marcus in from beside her. "Smart."

"All I had was a five!" she defended herself.

He sighed and said, "Don't worry, I'll pay for your side of the machine."

Okay, NO way in HELL was he going to humiliate her AND pay cash for it to happen, not as long as she had four one-dollar bills in her pocket that she could get change for. "You know what? I think I can handle getting four quarters in change."

"Not as long as that sign's up," he replied, smirking with satisfaction.

"What sign-oh," she looked up at the four change machines that were grouped together in the center of room. Above one of them was a sign that said- ALL CHANGE MACHINES OUT OF ORDER-NO CHANGE AVAILABLE.

"Well what about the cafe? They have to have change there!"

"The cafe won't give anyone change Adrienne," Faith said matter-of-factly. "remember how you always laugh at people who try?" Adrienne was sure she heard Marcus snicker without looking at him. She hated him already. But anyway, there was no other way that she could think of to get out of this, so all she could do was submit to it, utter defeat was upon her and somewhere she knew fate was laughing it's ass of at her. She could have kicked Fate in the nuts if it were here right now.

"So how long have you been playing DDR?" Said Marcus, stepping up on the metal dance pad on the right side.

"Three years," Adrienne said with more confidence than she felt. "You?"

"Five and a half," he said casually.

Adrienne tried her best to laugh like she meant it, but it came out a nervous chuckle.

"So are you going to play or not?" He asked with a smirk on his face.

"Of course," She said, stepping up to the metal pad, certain that any moment she was going to die.

AN- Ok, this idea sort of popped into my head one day while I was playing DDR. Tell me what you think! I think I made the beginning a little too . . . blah, if you know what I mean, I think I need a little more detail instead of saying "this happened" then "that happened". It's like I'm writing like a minimalist, and I'm not too fond of that kind of writing. I hope I made the first chapter long enough, it was around 2,000 words and I think this was a good stopping point. I'll work on it a little more tomorrow, but I need to concentrate on a title, this one's probably only temporary.


	2. Chapter 2

Adrienne, feeling her heart racing, stepped up onto the platform and watched as Marcus placed the quarters in the machine-three for her and three for him. She mentally glared as he placed all six in there, why did the change machines have to break TODAY?

"You want to pick the first song?" he asked.

Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded.

"Good,"

Oh, what had she gotten herself into? Sighing, she tried her best to clear her head.

Reading her expression like an open book and looking at her with a bored expression he said, "You know, if you really think you can't win, you can leave."

Well, THAT was a wake-up call to her. Fuming, she turned to him and said, "Go to Hell."

He snorted and said, "Suit yourself."

Stupid self-centered jerk. She thought.

She scrolled through the songs, searching for one that she played well, but not wanting to select something easy. Finally, she came to Tsugaru and selected that. They both set their difficulty on heavy.

GET READY the machine said and in a second that seemed like an hour it blared, SHOW ME YOUR MOVES!

Adrienne and Marcus were almost tied for the first half of the song, but Adrienne knew that she was struggling to do as well as she was. Marcus on the other hand, even though she couldn't see him, wasn't struggling at all. Quite the contrary actually, he was looking at the screen and moving his feet without really paying much attention, like he knew the steps by heart and didn't need the arrows at all. Adrienne was trying her best to keep up, but fell short on one arrow and thus, throwing her completely off. Her gage was in the red and almost empty, but she managed to pull herself back. She knew that she stood no chance against him, without looking at him she could tell by his stance that he wasn't struggling in the least. All that confidence she had gained when she had told him to go to Hell had vanished and even though she managed to hang on until the song was over, she knew even before then that she had lost.

The results screen came up and Adrienne almost didn't even want to look at it. Forcing her eyes up to the monitor, she saw her C shrink in cowardice next to Marcus' big flashing A. She was gasping for breath, and she could feel beads of sweat forming on the back of her neck. She reached up and wiped her neck, then told him, "Since you won this one, you pick the next song."

He smiled at her, in what might have been an attempt to be nice, but Adrienne took it as mocking and shot him a little glare which he took notice of, looked quickly back to the screen and said, "Okay." But before he could do anything, Faith jumped up on the platform next to Adrienne.

"Hey," she said. "My mom is here and wants me to come home now, my grandmother's in the hospital. Don't worry, she's okay, but mom wants me to come see her, can you find a ride home?"

"Yeah, I'll call Jason," She replied, then sighed at Faith's look of disgust.

"You know I don't like him,"

"It's fine," she said, glancing up at the door and waving at Faith's mom, whom she swore had some kind of supernatural power to be able to find her daughter in a huge mall like this. "Just go see your grandmother."

"Okay, but call my cell when you get home, okay?" She said, with a little too much motherly-like worry in her voice.

"Fine," She rolled her eyes.

When she looked back at the screen, Marcus had the cursor over the song Witch Doctor.

"This fine with you?" he asked.

"Yeah," she suddenly felt all alone with him, Faith was her support, what kept her going, but now she was gone, and the only thing left to soothe her was the Dance Dance Revolution machine, which was fast becoming her enemy and cause of the destruction of what little dignity she had.

She didn't do any better on this song than the previous one, this time getting a D while Marcus not only got an AAA but got full combo and set a new record for the machine. Being better at this than the other hundreds of people who played it must have really boosted his already overflowing ego. Adrienne thought as he selected another song. This time he picked something a little easier on her, whether he knew it or not. Final round was Cartoon Heroes, once again, both on heavy. Adrienne managed to pull through with another D, (she could play songs on heavy, granted she rarely made better than a B) while once again oh so perfect Marcus got an AA.

Adrienne was contemplating killing him and throwing his body to hungry dogs, looking at her final score of C and his of A when he said with a hint of amusement, "You want to play again?"

She wanted to play by herself, but with no change and no way of getting change, the chances that she would get to play were slim.

"I can't," she said. "I have to get home."

It was a lie and she knew it. Her mom was away on a business trip (something that she had become accustomed to; her mom worked constantly and was usually away for weeks at a time to other franchises working on big projects in other states and sometimes other countries.) and wouldn't be back until next week. Hell, even when she was home, she payed no attention to her. It wasn't like she was alone though, even though technically she was. Often, Faith would come and stay for days at a time, or sometimes her boyfriend Jason would invite himself over and stay with her, but that really made her feel even more alone.

"You sure?" she heard Marcus say as she started to turn and walk away. "I'll pay if you do."

Once again, she felt all alone without Faith there beside her. She didn't want to stay in the same room with him anymore, much less play Dance Dance Revolution with him.

"No, I really have to get home, I'm late already," she glanced at her watch just for the effect, then walked out the door, heading for the cafe to get some peace so she could call Jason to come and pick her up.

Sitting down in the cafe, Adrienne pulled out her cell and dialed Jason's number. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Marcus, in all his baggy black clothes, go up to the counter and order some fries and a large Mountain Dew.

He answered on the third ring, sounding a little groggy as he picked up the phone.

"Hello?" He snapped into the phone, making Adrienne wince.

"Hey," she said. "Are you busy?"

"I'm sleeping," he said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and everyone should know that he sleeps from the time he gets off of work at 4:00 until 11:00 PM, then goes to smoke pot and drink until he passes out again.

"Can you come and pick me up from the mall?" she was already sorry she had called him and maybe called someone else. Anyone else for that matter. Hell, she could have walked the ten miles from here to her house and been happier than calling her boyfriend.

"No," there was no hint of regret in his voice.

She sighed. God why does he have to be such an asshole? Adrienne thought to herself. "C'mon, please? I have no other way to get home!"

"Look, bitch, I have other things to do, I can't come and save your ass every time you get stuck at the mall!"

"God what's wrong with you?" she was practically shrieking now and she had the attention of the clerk and Marcus, whom she couldn't see anyway because he had sat down behind her, but was nearly laughing at her loud behavior. "I ask you one simple favor and you act like I'm asking you to go die for me or something!"

"I'M BUSY OKAY!" He all but screamed at her.

"WELL THEN HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET HOME?" She screamed back. Unbeknown to her, she now not only had the full attention of the clerk and the only other customer in the cafe (namely Marcus), but now that of some of the people in the adjoining arcade-a small group of which were going to get something to eat in there, but upon hearing the psychotic screaming, decided against it and were now backing away slowly with wide eyes.

Adrienne heard a click on the other line. He had hung up on her.

"Hello?" she said angrily into the phone. She looked at the screen. CALL DISCONNECTED was in the middle, the time of the call just underneath that. Angrily she snapped the phone closed and slammed it down on the table. She desperately wanted to call Faith, but knowing that she was in the hospital with her grandmother, she probably didn't want to be bothered with coming to pick up her friend when she was stuck at the mall.

This is just one of those times when you wish you had a car. She thought to herself. She had her license, but she was still saving to get her a car. Her mom had said when she found one she liked she would pay for half of it, but Adrienne had little money, working at a cafe on Main street, and still hadn't found a car she liked, so she was SOL in that department.

Oh, what was she to do now, stuck at the mall with no way to get home? It would take her nearly two hours to walk home, but that looked like it was going to be her only option. She sighed. Might as well eat before I leave, God knows there's probably nothing in the refrigerator. The chili-cheese fries looked good, so she went to the counter and ordered a small basket of them and refilled her drink. She was glad they had free refills because the small chili-cheese fries had taken almost all of her four dollars, which she thought was ridiculous but for the sake of her stomach got them anyway.

Eventually the taste of the fries and cheese/chili mix made her remember that she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday and forget about the price. She held up a fry, pretending it was Jason's head, and glared at it as if it were going to explode under her gaze. That was what she was hoping was to happen, but unfortunately for her, it didn't, so with a resounding sigh, she popped the fry dripping with sticky cheese and meaty chili into her mouth and ate it.

She tried to remind herself why she kept going out with Jason, even though a number of people in her life didn't like him. As a matter of fact, no one in her life liked Jason that she could recall. She wasn't even sure if Jason liked himself. Hell, _she_ didn't even like him. But try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to leave him. It certainly wasn't love that was keeping her tied to him. She absolutely did not love him, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself that she might, somewhere deep inside, have some kind of attraction to him.

No, it was his fists and physical strength and intimidation that kept her from leaving him. She had tried before to tell him that she wanted nothing more to do with him, but he punched her in the face and said no. He didn't hit her that often, in fact rarely did he ever lay a hand on her; but that was only because she didn't dare do anything to provoke him to use physical violence with her. But that one incident where she tried to leave him and he hit her was enough to let her know that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't bring herself to try that ever again.

Just thinking about that made her cry, and with embarrassment, she realized that in fact, she was crying, and looking into her compact mirror, she noticed that her eyes were red and puffy and her face was tear-stained. Quickly she grabbed some napkins and wiped her face as clean as she could get it, but that wasn't very helpful. Then, while still looking in her compact mirror, she noticed someone behind her, looking at her. It was Marcus. When he saw that he had been caught, he quickly averted his eyes and she noticed his face turn the slightest shade of red.

_Was he watching me?_ She thought, a little freaked out, and yet, amused at the same time that he had been embarrassed by it. _I mean, if he had just been glancing around and happened to look at the time, then he wouldn't have been embarrassed by it would he?_ She thought.

Marcus strode into the cafe next to the arcade. That girl had been good, no doubt, and cute too, but she was awfully quiet, and kept glaring at him when she thought he wasn't looking while they played. He thought she was being a little too ever-reactive when she lost to him. Though it was a little funny at first, he soon picked up the hint that maybe she didn't like him. That was just fine with him, he was never going to see her again anyway.

Ordering some food from the counter, he passed Adrienne just in time to see her pull out a cell phone and dial a number. He sat down in the seat directly behind her and took a sip of his Mountain Dew. He could hear her asking someone to pick her up from the mall.

"C'mon, please? I have no other way to get home!" he heard her say. They must have said no. This must be that Jason guy she said she was going to call. Whoever it was, he was yelling so loud, that Marcus could hear him through the phone. Marcus nearly spit his Mountain Dew everywhere, he was trying so hard not to laugh.

"God what's wrong with you? I ask you one simple favor and you act like I'm asking you to go die for me or something!" That girl sure had a mouth on her. If she didn't quiet down, she was going to wake the dead. Marcus could hear the guy on the phone scream, "I'M BUSY, OKAY!" Then he saw a group of kids back away when Adrienne screamed into the phone even louder. He must have hung up on her, because her next action was to say "Hello?" angrily then proceed to throw the phone down onto the table. Apparently her boyfriend, or whatever this Jason was to her, was seriously lacking in people skills.

Marcus was about to leave himself when he saw Adrienne sit down at her table with a basket of fries. He must have missed it when she got up to get them. _God, what are you, stalking her?_ He thought. He shook his head to clear it of the thoughts of her. She was nothing to him and he was never going to see her again and that was all there was to it.

Or is that just the way you think it should be?

He glared at the table, cursing himself for his involuntary thoughts. He wasn't ever going to see her again.

Ever.

Right?

Without thinking, he glanced up at her, only to see the reflection of her face in a compact mirror. She was crying. A pang of pity surged through his body but almost as soon as it was there, it was gone. Then he realized that she had looked up at him. Blushing, he looked away.

_Blushing! What's wrong with me!_

This could not be healthy.

Standing up, he walked over to the trash cans to throw his drink away. He walked past her table and caught a glimpse of her wiping her eyes. _Pathetic cry-baby_. He thought.

Stepping out into the cool twilight air, Marcus wondered why he had never seen Adrienne around before. True, it was a rather large town, but surely they should have passed somewhere before. Oh, well. He wasn't going to bother himself over it. Leaning against the wall on the side of the mall, he stared at the clouds. They were dark, meaning it was probably going to rain soon.

Back in the cafe, Adrienne was just finishing her fries. She wiped the last of the tears from her eyes, and was thankful that there weren't many people in the cafe to see her cry. She hated how her emotions could get the best of her. She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost five o'clock and she had no way home. It looked as if she was going to have to walk. She supposed it wouldn't be that bad, walking had always been sort of meditative for her, and with all the stress on her right now, she needed to meditate.

As she stepped into the elevator that would take her to the bottom floor, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Faith's number. She answered on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Faith, how's your grandmother?"

"Oh, hey Adrienne. She's doing okay, it was just a mild heart attack. They said she'll be home in a few days."

"That's good. I just wanted to check up on her."

"Is Jason going to give you a ride home?"

Adrienne paused. She didn't want to tell her that Jason said no. Most of it was out of consideration for Faith in that she didn't want to disturb the visiting time she was getting with her sick grandmother, but part of it was because she didn't want Faith to have anything more negative to say about Jason.

"Oh, yeah. He is."

"Okay, that's good. I don't want you to have to walk."

Adrienne heard another voice in the background that sounded like Faith's mom. She heard Faith say "Okay" then to Adrienne she said, "Hey I have to go. We're about to leave to go get something to eat. I'll call you later when I get home, okay?"

"Alright," Adrienne replied. She hung up her phone at the same time the elevator doors opened to let her out. She looked next to her at the thick glass doors that led outside to the parking lot. It was raining. _Perfect_. She thought as she glared out the doors. There was an awning(1) that she could stand underneath outside until the rain stopped. It was better than sitting around in the food court where it was loud and smelled like greasy food. She felt a headache coming on and she knew that sitting in the food court would only make it worse. She sighed as she stepped through the doors and out into the rain. Glancing over at the awning she saw none other than the DDR champ himself, Marcus. _Well, life just doesn't get much better now does it?_ She thought wryly. Oh, well. Sitting out here with him was still better than in the food court.

(1)- Ok, when I was letting people read this, a lot of them were asking me what an awning was, so to clear up any confusion that may come of this here's the definition: a canopy made of canvas or metal to shelter people or things from rain or sun. Think about the roof thing over the walkways at most schools.

AN: Oh my gosh, it has been so long since I've updated. But I have a good excuse, I promise! Writing this chapter overlapped with my semester exams so a lot of the time that was usually spent writing was spent when I was studying EXTRA EXTRA hard to pass my exams! Since today was my last day at school before Winter Break (haha all of my friends at public schools had to go three more days than I did! sticks tongue out at Cherryville High people) I should get a lot more writing in over Christmas break... who knows, I might even update some other long-lost fics such as "Elizabeth" or "The City of my Dreams". Hey, shrugs it's a possibility.


	3. Chapter 3

Marcus sat comfortably underneath the awning outside the mall. He didn't like to think of himself as "emo," but he did like rainy days. They were perfect for staying inside and playing DDR. He knew that he wasn't the stereotypical DDR fanatic—he wasn't a video game geek, he didn't particularly like techno that much either. He just loved the moving, and the skill required to get a good score. It wasn't about the dancing to him. In fact, he didn't even consider it "dancing." To him, it was a form of art, not completely unlike dancing, but really not the same thing. It was physically challenging, required mental skill, and it was fun. It also kept his mind from all the bad things in life. Whenever something bad happened to him (and he admitted, even to himself, that this sounded lame, but true) the happy techno music made him feel better, as did the good feeling he got whenever he got a good score.

Marcus had been playing DDR ever since he discovered it back when he was in the sixth grade. It was the beginning of the year and his mother had just passed away from cancer. It had been a long battle, and the whole family saw it coming, but Marcus, the youngest of three, had missed his mother the most when she died. For his birthday, she had bought him a version for Playstation 1. He had never been interested in it until after she died. After that, he spent all his available time in his room, practicing and perfecting each step.

Marcus looked up from his reverie to see Adrienne walking toward him. He immediately stiffened. What did she want? Certainly she did not to talk to him. After witnessing the conversation she had in the café, Marcus was a little embarrassed to talk to her. Well, he saw only one solution to that problem: pretend the _nothing_ happened. He looked over at her. She was sitting about ten feet to his left, gazing at a patch of trees on the other side of the parking lot. At least she wasn't trying to come over and talk to him or something.

Marcus glanced at his watch. He debated with himself over whether or not to go home. There wasn't really anything to do there. Of course, he had grown bored of hanging out at the mall too. The last thing he wanted to become was some kind of mall rat. He could go hang out with the guys at The Bean Scene. He usually hung out with his friends there. It was a small café on the other side of town. Every Tuesday there were concerts that local bands put on there for extra cash. Marcus' own band, Addicts of Affliction, sometimes played there. They made decent cash, but they all knew that this band was nothing more than a high school hobby. Now that the summer was here, however, it had become somewhat of a part-time job for most of the members. They relied on the small gigs they got to bring in some cash, and now that school was out there was more time to devote to the band.

Marcus rested his head against the gray stone wall behind him and thought, idly half-focusing his eyes on Adrienne, who just happened to be sitting in his line of vision.

OXO

Adrienne glared at each passing raindrop, silently hoping to vaporize them all. There was no way in _Hell_ she was going to walk ten miles to her house in the rain. It wasn't just rain; this was more like Monsoon. Suddenly a bright flash of lightning, followed by an obscenely loud crack of thunder caused Adrienne to jump in the air and shriek. Mortified by her behavior, she cautiously glanced around to see if anyone had seen.

Oops. Marcus was sitting there, watching her. And worse, he had an amused look on his face. _Great, not only does he humiliate me in the arcade, but also out here in nature, I can't escape the embarrassment._ Sighing, she hung her head in shame.

OXO

Marcus didn't know what made him do it, but after he saw her jump and scream at the thunder, he had to go over to her. What he would say, he didn't know. All he knew was that he had to say something to her. Why he felt this way was anyone's guess.

He sauntered over to her, but she didn't see him. She had her elbows on her knees and her face pressed into her palms. He knew that she had seen him looking.

"Hey," he said. She jerked her head up quickly and replied curtly, "Hi."

"Um…listen, I don't know what I did in there to make you so mad at me, but I'm sorry."

She seemed a little more than confused. "What do you mean?"

"It seemed like you were mad at me in there. You kept glaring at me and stuff. I just wanted to apologize for pissing you off."

"Oh." Adrienne wasn't too sure of what to say. The only thing about him that pissed her off was his egotistical attitude and smugness. "Uh…it's ok, I guess. It wasn't all you. I had a bad day. I'm sorry." She didn't know why she was making excuses for herself. She knew she had acted petty in there, but she couldn't bring herself to admit it.

"So, we cool?" Marcus looked at her and held out his hand. She shook it.

"Sure," she answered, "cool."

"So…uh…I couldn't help but overhear that you needed a ride."

Adrienne had never blushed so hard in her life.

"Um…Well, I could just walk. I only live a few miles from here anyway."

"But it's raining." He answered simply.

"Yeah…" she trailed off.

"So...Can I take you somewhere?"

Adrienne thought about it for a minute. She knew that if Jason knew about this he would go crazy. She knew that she should tell him no thank you, but the thought of walking ten miles in torrential rain was highly unappealing.

She answered Marcus with a hesitant, "Sure."

"So how old are you anyway?" Marcus asked on the way to his car. If there was one thing he hated, it was awkward silences. He was determined to fill every conversationless gap, even if that meant talking about complete nonsense.

"Sixteen," Adrienne answered. "You?"

"Seventeen. Do you go to Wellstone High?"

"Yeah, do you?"

"Yeah, I wonder why I've never seen you before."

"Well, it is a big school." Adrienne mused.

"Nice car." He had led her to a late eighties model Nissan sports car. "I love old sports cars."

"Yeah?" He seemed genuinely interested. He reached over the seat to unlock the passenger side door. "I love my car. My dad was worried that the insurance would be expensive because it's a sports car, but because it's older, it's not so bad."

"Hmm…" she seemed to think about this.

"So you'll have to tell me how to get to your house."

"Oh, if you hit the highway going north, take the fifth exit and turn right. After that, just take a left on Startown Street and mine is the third house on the left."

"Sounds simple enough, but were you really going to walk five exits up a highway? That's kind of dangerous."

_And he cares….why?_ Adrienne though wryly, but she didn't actually say it. She was just glad he wasn't being a jerk anymore. She shrugged,"I've done it before. As long as you're careful, cars won't usually hit you."

"True," he answered, "but what if someone ran off the road and hit you. You wouldn't see that coming, and it _does_ happen sometimes."

"Yeah…true…"

Sensing the start of a silence, Marcus used one hand to reach behind him and grab a large black CD folder.

"Here, you want to listen to something?"

"Sure." She browsed through his CD collection and found that most of his music was hard rock, metal and stuff. Adrienne liked rock, but heavy metal was mostly too much for her. She chose something a little lighter and put it in, fiddling with the buttons on the high-tech CD player.

"That's a nice radio." Adrienne commented.

"It was a Christmas present from my dad."

Adrienne idly tapped her foot along with the beat, and she saw Marcus drumming along on the steering wheel. Ahead of her, as she looked out the windshield, the wipers were going at full blast, moving rain aside, only to have it fall back into place less than a second later. Another flash of lightning came. Adrienne had barely a second to brace herself before the thunder came. She still jumped.

"Afraid of thunder?" Marcus teased lightly.

"No," she answered defensively. "Loud noises startle me."

"You know, it's perfectly normal to be afraid of thunderstorms. Lots of people are." He was mocking her. Slightly embarrassed, she focused her attention on the metal stud in his wristband, rather than looking in his eyes. She was afraid of thunderstorms.

"I'm not _scared_ of them. I just hate them."

"Right," he was unconvinced. He smiled at her though, to show he was joking. Relieved that he wasn't tormenting her just for fun, she smiled back and said jokingly, "I am _not_ afraid."

"The courage of a lion." He said.

"Damn straight," she said triumphantly.

"Is this it?" He asked. Adrienne hadn't even noticed that he'd pulled in front of her house.

"Yep. That's mine." She opened the door." It was nice playing you today. You were good."

"You too. You know, with a little training, you could be in a tournament."

She paused, as if thinking it over, but then shook her head. "No, I wouldn't last two minutes in a real tournament. I'm not that good. I might love the game, but I'm far from an expert at it."

"You could train."

"Yeah, like a DDR coach? Do those even exist?" She laughed.

"They might." He laughed too.

"Yeah, well if you ever come across one around here, let me know."

"With pleasure." With that, he drove off. Adrienne realized she never thanked him for the ride. Maybe she could see him at school on Monday and thank him then.

She was glad he wasn't so much of a jerk after all. He had actually made her day a little bit brighter. Just a little.

OXO

A/N- I know it's a short chapter, but it's 2:30 AM and I just had to do SOMETHING lol. Umm, I just wanna thank AnariKaizoku because if I hadn't got that review today, I wouldn't have updated this. So thanks, for kicking my butt in gear!!! Thanks everyone else who read/reviewed too, because it gives me a reason to write!!


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